Drivers of Local Prosperity Differences: People, Firms and Places

该项目旨在更多地了解是什么导致了英国各地区之间巨大而持久的生产力差异。尽管它们很重要，但人们对这些空间经济失衡背后的因素仍然知之甚少。该项目将重点关注工人技能分布、企业特征和当地因素之间的相互作用，如跨地区的基础设施和便利设施。造成区域生产率差距的潜在因素有几个。高技能工人倾向于聚集在某些地方，这可能会提高这些地区的生产率。但对技能的需求也取决于当地企业的类型。区域工业结构的差异，有些地区专门从事生产率较高的部门，也可能起作用。即使在同一行业内，生产率更高的企业和管理、研发等任务也更多地集中在繁荣地区。最后，地方禀赋的差异，如交通联系、住房供应和便利设施，可能会导致空间不平等。以前的研究通常是孤立地研究这些因素。该项目将首次严格分析其相对重要性，同时使用来自关联管理数据集的新颖颗粒数据，这些数据集涵盖了自2000年代以来英格兰所有工人，公司和地方。这种微观层面的分析将量化人们、企业和地方随时间变化的特征可以解释多少空间生产力差距，以及一些地方是否以及在多大程度上似乎“本质上”更富有生产力。调查结果将揭示哪些政策手段可能最有效地减少这些失衡，这是中国政府“提升水平”议程的一个关键目标。可交付成果包括为政策制定者提供的综合报告、政策简报、使用这些数据集进行进一步研究的手册，以及吸引利益相关者参与的研讨会，并在该领域建立一个分析社区。了解和解决英国经济表现严重空间差异的根本原因，对于实现更具包容性、区域平衡的增长和提高国民生产力至关重要。

This project aims to learn more about what drives the large and persistent productivity differences across regions in the UK. Despite their importance, the factors behind these spatial economic imbalances are still poorly understood. The project will focus on the interaction between the distribution of workers' skills, the characteristics of firms, and local factors like infrastructure and amenities across areas.There are several potential drivers of regional productivity gaps. Highly skilled workers tend to cluster in certain places, potentially making those areas more productive. But demand for skills also depends on the types of businesses located there. Differences in regional industrial structures, with some areas specializing in higher productivity sectors, could also play a role. Even within the same industry, more productive firms and tasks like management and R&D concentrate more in prosperous regions. Finally, differences in local endowments like transport links, housing availability and amenities across places may contribute to spatial inequalities.Previous research has generally looked at these factors in isolation. This project will be the first to rigorously analyse their relative importance simultaneously using novel, granular data from linked administrative datasets covering all workers, firms and localities in England since the 2000s. This micro-level analysis will quantify how much spatial productivity gaps can be explained by the characteristics of people, firms, and places over time, and whether and to what extent some locations seem to be 'intrinsically' more productive.The findings will shed light on what policy levers may be most effective for reducing these imbalances, a key objective of the government's Levelling Up agenda. Deliverables include a comprehensive report for policymakers, policy briefs, a manual enabling further research using these datasets, and workshops engaging stakeholders and building an analytical community in this space.Understanding and addressing the root causes of the UK's severe spatial disparities in economic performance is crucial for enabling more inclusive, regionally balanced growth and boosting national productivity.